Interviews: Break Me Down

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the  Alternative Metal band, Break Me Down from Italy. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE. 

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it, or came out just like that?

The most difficult thing in a band is to find the right name! This may sound weird, but think about it: the name must be something easy to remember and it must reflect your intentions and style. When you start a band, that’s the hardest thing to do: find the right name! We didn’t plan, it came out one day, while we were talking about it. We had some ideas but none of them fit. So, one of us asked: what’s the sense of our songs, I mean, the sense of our lyrics? The answer was quick and simple: we talk about situations where you can’t give up. It’s a kind of provocation: come on! you can try to break me down but I’m still standing...and that was how it went. We found the name: Break Me Down.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

I had a lot of experience as a musician. I played different types of genres, from pop to rock, from r&b to blues...and something that I didn’t like but I had to. When my last project ended I make a promise to myself: if I have to die (as a musician) then I would do it playing the genre that I love the most: Metal!

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Actually, in the first place, Laerte, our guitarist formed BMD on the ashes of his last project. So, yes, we were friends before forming this band. I joined BMD almost three years ago but Laerte and I are friends since we played together for my old solo project in 2010. 

4. Each band member's favorite band?

Veronica: Jinjer (because of Tatiana, she is super talented and every time she saw her live, I dreamed to be like her one day)

Laerte: Tremonti and Periphery (Tremonti because he found his path, that I personally love so much, and Periphery because they are such an inspiration to me and my writing.

Tommy: Black Stone Cherry (because I love southern rock as much as I love to play my bass)

Fabio: Tool (because I like those who want to do something new, who tried to find new ways of music)

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

Everything can inspire us. In the first place, our inspirations were our stories and our lives. But now with our latest works, we were inspired by the villains in fairy tales because no one was born good or evil. It’s the life that made us as we are: our experiences changed who we are, and so did the villains. We want to give a voice to all these characters and tell their stories. That’s what our last singles are about.

6. Where was your last gig?

We played at “home”, that’s what we use to call the Legend Club Milano. It was a blast! We have two gigs on the way: the first one is at the Porkober Fest, three days of music, beer, and grill...it will be awesome! The second one is at Il Giulia Rock Arena in Trieste, north-east of Italy and we will play there for the very first time, we are so excited!

7. Where would you like to act?

We don’t have a preference, we love to play in small clubs because it’s more intimate, but at the same time we’d like to play on big stages to feel the crowd! The most important thing to us is play but if we have to say a stage, in particular, I would say Wacken Festival in Germany.

8. Whom would you like to feature with?

Hard question. We were thinking about having a feat with big names but it’s complicated. But, to answer your question, if you have to dream, do it big: Corey Taylor from Slipknot! Speaking of featuring, at the moment we released a feat with another talented singer, Vitali Mats. He has a powerful voice and we decided to collaborate with him to do a cover of Break In, a Halestorm song that we like so much. You can find it on our Spotify and Youtube channels.

9. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Always! Every one of us has stage fright, it’s different from one to another but the tip to beat it is to find something that helps you to focus, a ritual for example, alone or together with your band, it doesn’t matter what it is, the important thing is to focus. Our ritual is simple (yes, we have something that we do together to fight the stage fright) we just do a huddle, like in an American football game, we made a circle, a kind of big hug, and one of us (usually our guitarist Lae) makes a little speech, something that helps to focus and push us to give our best, always. You may don’t believe that, but I swear, it’s very helpful!

10. What bands have inspired you the most?

Another hard question is because there are too many bands to nominate. We can say that our sound is inspired by modern metal bands such as Periphery, Bad Omens, Jinjer, but there are also bands more melodic like Muse.

11. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

The weirdest thing to us was a very simple thing for everyone else I think: one day, this fan wrote us a message on Instagram, he asked for permission to do a tattoo of our logo on his wrist. We were unprepared for such a request. Weirdly, someone wants to put your logo on his skin, I mean, we are not so big and important to receive this kind of tribute. We were so happy but at the same time, completely shocked.

12. What do you think of your fans?

Fans...we use to call them “Breakers” because they are more than fans to us. Many of them became our friends during these years because of our music. Some of them also, are helping us with the band. There are so many things behind a music project, it’s not just music if you are doing it all by yourself. Our Breakers are the best fans we can ever ask for!

13. What do you think of our site?

You guys are doing an amazing job! You are supporting underground bands from every part of the world to reach out to more audiences with interviews and videos...and you are doing great! Thank you so much to help us too!

14. Anything to add?

Thank you so much for this opportunity to talk a little bit about our band. You can find us everywhere on the web: Spotify, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure to follow us on these socials because some news are coming...soon! Thanks, Veronica.